


Of Dogs and Disobedience

by AgingPhangirl (Madophelia)



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Dogs, Domestic Bliss, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Forever Home, M/M, fluffiest fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-31 16:20:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12685578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madophelia/pseuds/AgingPhangirl
Summary: The five times they tried to have rules for their dog, and the one time they gave up.





	Of Dogs and Disobedience

**Author's Note:**

> For my pals who I met for the first time recently, and who tempted me to write this by talking about domestic dog times in our group chat. For you guys. <3

Dan often tells him that he's more badly behaved than the dog. He steals food off Dan's plate, tracks muddy shoe prints through the hallway, and if Dan is gone for too long, bounces around him upon his return until Dan gives him some attention. At least, this is where Dan draws the parallels. 

He doesn't seem to mind though. And while there are no clear cut rules for Phil, not really because despite the comparison Phil isn't actually Dan's pet, there are rules for Winston. 

**1\. No tidbitting from the table.**

**2\. No jumping up.**

**3\. No sitting on the sofa.**

**4\. No sleeping in their bed.**

**5\. No going in the gaming room**

"But he's just a puppy," Phil argued, scratching him behind the ears and grinning when his pink little tongue flopped out. 

"Exactly," Dan replied, crouching down as well and stroking him, "he has to learn." 

It isn't that Dan hates the dog. Far, far from that. Phil knows Dan loves Winston, is absolutely head over heels about the damn thing, but for some reason he's intent on having him be a good boy and- thanks to the internet- thinks a constant, consistent approach to household rules is the way to go about it. 

There is lies the problem. Because, although Phil is quite open about his flippant attitude towards the rules, at least he tries to stick to them.

 

**1.**

He suffers the cocked head and longing stares as he eats, the wide brown pleading eyes aimed at his slice of pizza. 

"Sorry little man," he says, hitching his plate higher out of his way, and trying to eat quickly so that Winston doesn't think he's neglecting him, "no tidbitting allowed." 

But Dan. Dan, with his sharp clearing of his throat as soon as Phil looks like he's about to waver, his vocal announcing of the rules at every given opportunity, Dan, is the worst.

Phil is home from his meeting. A pointless one because he knows he doesn't really want to get involved in a solo project right now, not when the second bathroom is still being renovated and they're debating that extension on the back to make the kitchen bigger. He wants to settle for a while, make the space their own, but he'd promised Jo at the management company he'd go along anyway. _Network_ she'd said _you never know for later on down the line_. He knows that's sensible, so he'd gone, but he's tired now and he just wants to come home. 

He knows as soon as he gets in that Dan has been cooking. The smell of food is spiralling through from the kitchen and he's never been more thankful in the knowledge that Dan will have left some for him. 

He stumbles through the hallway, kicking off his shoes and placing them on the rack in the space under the stairs and pads onto the cool whites tiles of their kitchen floor. Hand picked, of course, the exact shade of white as the counters because _aesthetics, Phil._

"Did you cook? Amazing. I'm famished--" he stops. 

Dan is sat at their breakfast table, the round glass one with the chunky pine legs. He's bent over, Winston's tan little body and swishing tail by his feet and he's--

"Are you feeding the dog your dinner?" 

Dan straightens up, wide-eyed and alert like he's been caught in the act. Because he has. 

"No."

"I thought we said no tidbitting," Phil 

"I wasn't," Dan maintains, and Phil pretends to go along with it. 

 

**2.**

They're both coming home late this time. They'd popped out for a coffee with friends hours ago. It's takes them longer to get into the city these days and they always misjudge what time the rush hour traffic is going to hit on the way back. It means they get caught in the rain, and they're gone a little longer than they truly intended but they're still smiling when they come in through the door, shedding wet coats and shaking out their hair. 

Winston is ecstatic. Bouncing around their ankles, shimmying up onto his hind legs, tongue lolling a yappy little bark escaping his mouth every few second. 

"Shhh boy," Phil is saying, trying to encourage him to stop jumping, getting caught in his own coat in the process. 

"Did you miss us?" Says Dan, his own coat abandoned on the antique chair they'd picked up at that place last summer. The one they said they were going to fix up, but haven't. The one that looks good anyway, a little shabby around the edges but charming nonetheless. Definitely more Phil's aesthetic than Dan's, but it works. 

He's bent at the waist, slapping his hands against his knees, laughing as Winston props his paw up there, jumping and barking in time with their frivolity. 

"Hey," Phil says, "No jumping up?" 

Dan continues laughing, and Phil joins in.

 

**3.**

Dan is ill. He's picked something up from somewhere. _From going outside_ he reminds Phil at various intervals, I told you we shouldn't do that. There has been much coughing on Dan's end and much rolling of his eyes on Phil's as Dan huddles on the couch and whines periodically for coffee or food or a warmer blanket. But Phil is the dutiful partner, bringing him things with only the smallest amount of mocking about his fragile state. 

He's on his way back from the kitchen, the mash potatoes and gravy Dan just _had_ to have when he was ill clutched in a steaming bowl, when he spots Winston up on the couch. He's curled into the curve of Dan's abdomen, rounded and he's hunched over, coughing forlornly and stroking at Winston's ears. They look cozy. The blanket tucked up under his chin, the rhythmic way Dan is petting at his fur, comfortable and close. Phil pauses for a moment in the doorway watching the nest of his little family and smiling. 

"He's up on the couch," Phil says, the barest hint of a smirk and his eyebrows definitely not raised. 

"I'm sick," Dan says, coughing weakly in demonstration. "Leave me alone." 

"Okay," Phil says, handing him the bowl. 

He strokes Winston's head twice, the pup butting his head into his hand, then reaches to run his fingers through Dan's hair. 

"Are you petting me now?" Dan says, poking the fork into the potatoes. 

"Maybe," Phil says. 

Dan hums, taking a bite. 

Phil rearranges them on the sofa so that Dan's legs are draped over his lap and Winston repositions so he can be near to them both. They stay like that for a while, and Dan begins to perk up.

 

**4.**

Phil doesn't often go away alone these days. Most of the time Dan goes with him, or they go away just the two of them but, when there is work and the commitments that go with deciding that yes, you do want that extension to make the kitchen bigger, one of you sometimes has to skip the family barbecue and stay home. It being Phil's parents that were hosting, Dan drew the short straw and had to stay home and suffer the awkward encounters with builders. 

Phil gets back on the Monday morning because _travelling on the Sunday is always busy, Dan_ and he knows he's in for it because he's back later than they'd agreed he would be. 

It's dark in the hallway, and there is no clattering sound of tiny paws on the wooden flooring of the lounge where Winston's basket is, which should have been his first clue. Phil puts his bag down, heads straight to the bedroom because if the house is in darkness, and there is silence in the living room, Dan has most likely gone to bed. Phil doubts Dan would have left the house, but he's just going to check anyway. 

The scene in their bedroom has the breath catching in Phil's throat. 

Dan's curly head pokes up from their sheets, bare arm hooked over the top, fingers curled into a loose fist. Winston is tucked up under his arm, his nose nuzzled into the juncture of his jaw and shoulder. He lifts his head as Phil enters, face alert at first then tail wagging as he recognises Phil. 

"Hey boy," Phil says in a whisper. "I didn't think you were allowed on the bed." 

Winston cocks his head and wags his tails some more as if he knows exactly what he's getting away with but that if Dan, the mean one, had allowed him then well, what was Phil going to do about it?

Phil isn't going to do anything, just chuckle lightly in the darkness at them both and contemplate getting a snack before he goes to bed himself. 

He decides against it. Disappearing instead for a spell to brush his teeth, knowing he'd only get the riot act from Dan if he snuggled up to him to sleep without doing so. 

Once he's in pyjamas, teeth brushed, contacts out, he heads back to the bedroom and crawls into the king sized bed. They'd invested in the bigger one when they got the house. It's a solid wood thing with a light grey wash to it, the headboard an actual thick branch. It's perfect, matching the rest of the silver-grey aesthetic they haven't moved away from since the last place, only much bigger. When Dan spotted it he fell in love instantly. Phil took a bit more convincing, mostly over the price tag considering it was some sort of obscure furniture designer Dan knew the name of but pretty much no one else in the world did (or at least that was Phil's argument at the time). He has to admit he likes it, especially at moments like this, bone tired from travelling, sinking into the soft mattress on a bed that is big enough for the length of them both without hanging off the edge and wide enough for them both to stretch out. That, and he had a sleep-warmed Dan next to him, which is always great, regardless of the bed. 

Dan hums a sound as Phil curls close, mostly still asleep, but a little bit awake. 

"How'd the kitchen go?" Phil asks, getting as close as he can with Winston between them. 

Winston lifts his head from Dan's chest, turns his neck, sniffs at Phil who pets him absently, before settling down between the two of them, close enough that he can touch them both. He lets a breath out of his nose, noisy, sounding like a little contented sigh. 

"S'good," Dan says, voice muffled as he scoots closer, mouth obscured partly by the pillow and partly by Phil's shoulder. 

"Okay," Phil says, a hand up in Dan's hair, the duvet tucker around them both. 

He scratches blunt fingers into Dan's head absentmindedly and Winston sighs again like he's jealous. 

"Did Winston steal my side of the best while I was gone?" 

"He's not allowed on the bed," Dan counters. 

Phil glances down at Winston, a circle of fluff in the space between their bodies. "Alright," he agrees. 

 

**5.**

Actually, keeping Winston out of the gaming room is difficult for both of them, but with the mass of wires and the many many expensive pieces of kit that could get damaged, they both agree it's best that the puppy isn't running around. 

Winston doesn't get the message straight away though, and the whining at the door, the tentative scratching of his claws against the door. It's painful to say the least, and they pretty much break that rule simultaneously and without much fuss. 

They're mid gaming video, and the whining at the door is loud enough that microphone is going to pick it up. 

"We're not bad dog parents," Phil is saying, animatedly, "But he'll injure his little paws if we let him in, or he'll trip over a cable or something. He's clumsy. He gets that from me." 

"He can't get that from you Phil," Dan insists. 

"He can, and he did." 

Dan rolls his eyes affectionately, but Winston whines behind the door and is isn't long before he's rolling backwards in his chair and opening the door. 

He brings him back in, cradled in his arms and lickign at his face. 

"He can come play with us," Dan says, "I'll sit him on my lap, he won't get hurt." 

"We can take turns," Phil corrects him, "he can sit with me when you're playing." 

"Okay." 

It's the first time Winston is featured on the gaming channel, but it wasn't the last.

 

**+1**

They're heading back from a walk. Winston has gotten really good at not pulling on the lead and he's trotting along happily on the end of his black lead that matches his collar. That's been Dan's input. The bone shaped tag hanging from it with Winston's name and their contact information written on it had been Phil's. 

"Oh, you're finally back," comes a voice from their porch as they walk up the drive, rounding the willow tree in their front garden. 

"Oh god," Dan says beside him, "We totally forgot. I'm so sorry." 

"No worries, you're not too late." 

"Hi Louise," Phil says, offering the arm not currently holding Winston's lead for a hug. 

"Oh hello," Louise says, ducking down in lieu of hugging him, "aren't you a cutie!" 

"This is Winston," Dan says, his voice proud. "He's the best." 

Louise tickles him under the chin and he pushes his furry head into her hand in response, licking at her a little bit. 

"He's precious," she says. 

They go inside, Louise relieving Phil of the lead to walk Winston inside, babbling to him all the time in baby talk. 

"You're doing that mum thing," Dan notes. 

"Yeah, just missing when my babies were really babies. Terrible twos have hit for the little one and I'm just… well, this isn't the easy bit. You guys have got it best with this one, he's lovely… aren't you. Aren't you just lovely." 

Winston yaps once and wags his tails to show that, yes, he is lovely. 

They make their way to the kitchen, Dan flicks the kettle on and fetches biscuits from the cupboard, arranging them on the plate. When they're settled around the table, drinks poured and Winston sitting at his feet, Louise gets around to asking about the renovations. 

"Well, it looks a lot different in here from the last time I was here," she says. 

"Yeah," Phil says, jumping up, because this is the part he likes best. He explains how it was before, what the concept was. That they're wanted to just knock through entirely but the wall was load bearing so they're settled for a lintel, made a feature of it with the spot lights. How they're chosen to keep the extension roof space open into the gable to give it that extra ceiling height, why they'd chosen to put windows in on both sides, rather than just one as the original builder has suggested. He's gesticulating wildly, he knows, but well, she'd asked. 

"Don't mind him," Dan says, picking up a biscuit and breaking a bit off, "he always gets like this. He's so excited about it." 

"So were you," Phil points out, "Mister we-must-have-the-exact-white-tiles-to-match-the-counters." 

"Aesthetics, Phil, I've told you." He laughs, reaching down with the bit of biscuit to an awaiting Winston who scoops it from his palm delicately. 

"Did you just--" 

"What?" Dan asks Louise, her face incredulous. 

"Did you just feel the dog biscuit from your hand?" 

Phil scoffs, "Yeah," he says, "Except we're supposed to have a rule where we don't do that." 

Dan shrugs. 

Later Louise points out when Dan lets Winston up on the couch, when he lets him into the gaming room while they film a video and he curls up in the corner. 

"You spoil him you know," Louise says, "He'll run riot." 

"He already does," Dan says fondly. 

"Yeah," Phil agrees, "We don't mind. He's kind of… he's like us." 

"One of the family," Dan grins, looking over at him. 

Phil grins back at there's a moment between them before Louise clears her throat. "Um guys?"

Dan laughs awkwardly. 

"Besides," he says, "If I can put up with how badly behaved Phil is, a disobedient puppy is nothing." 

Phil shoves at him lightly and Dan's smile lasts the entire time Louise is setting up the camera. And then some. 

Most days, Dan insists Phil is still more badly behaved than the dog. Some days, Phil counters it with how badly behaved Dan is, and that if he's just stuck to the rules, the dog wouldn't be badly behaved anyways. Winston demands attention and despite their best efforts it's obvious who is really in charge in their house and he often runs circles right around them. He goes where he wants in the house, sits where he wants, sleeps where he wants, and they spoil him rotten. And to be honest, they wouldn't have it any other way.

**Author's Note:**

> I suppose this is part of my 'of dogs and something' series. Except they don't take place in the same universe, or they could, I just title them that way. check out my [ Enjoy!](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11519289)


End file.
